YouSaid · the spoken record

Ramcharan

lines on the record
15
first
2003-07-07
most recent
2003-07-07
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “But on the concrete issue of who would assume the responsibility to follow up, I would use this occasion to say that it is my fervent hope that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court will consider the situation seriously; here we are faced with a situation in which, while the needs of peace are without doubt of the highest order, one may think that the limits of conscience have been reached. It is important for the hand of justice, through the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to be heard. To conclude, Mr. President, I will seek your leave and the leave of Council members to submit to the Council a further written response because the questions posed here were serious and important ones. The quality of the debate of the Council indicates that a response of matching quality should be given.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  2. “We spend $22 million from the regular budget per year, and we spend double that amount from voluntary contributions. If we want to mount an investigation or if we want to act to support the Observatory or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we must launch an appeal for voluntary contributions and come to States for support. Finally, a question was raised on how justice should be brought to the chief commanders, and how one would follow up on some of the information that has been presented to the Council. Mr. Guehenno gave an answer with respect to the chief perpetrators and commanders. It is an issue that requires a certain subtlety of approach.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  3. “Guehenno also referred to this: when working with partners, especially non- governmental organizations, at the end of the day the classic human rights method is to gather the facts, publicize them and let the verdict of history be pronounced on those involved. That is the answer I would give, which I gave earlier. We must increase our activities to document and to publicize the facts. I welcome the comment that was made on the gender dimension. I think it would be important for the Special Rapporteur on violence against women to visit this situation. I was asked how the Observatory and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will work together and how they will be financed. Mr. Guehenno answered that question. Anything that we do in this kind of situation is financed by voluntary contributions.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  4. “I would simply note - picking up the earlier thread of my answer - that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has made public comments about cases that occurred in the Ituri area that qualified even as genocide. I would also ask that the Council take note of the plight of the indigenous population in that area, who are particularly victimized. I was asked what practical measures one can take to prevent impunity. I would like to stay, if I may, with the answer that I gave: at the end of the day, each people must be given an opportunity to strive for peace, justice and reconciliation, on the understanding that international crimes cannot be subject to pardon. I was asked how the monitoring of human rights can be strengthened, and how we can strengthen the role of civil society. Mr.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  5. “I can well imagine that the Office of the High Commissioner should, with the appropriate support, help in the process of gathering information, publicizing that information and, quite frankly, identifying the responsibility of those concerned. It had been my intention this morning to present the Council with a list of names of the persons whom we consider particularly responsible for some of the atrocities. I hesitated to do that, because I felt that it might fall more into the province of the Prosecutor. But my answer to the Council is that what the Office of the High Commissioner can do is to help in the process of investigation. We were asked what more MONUC could do. Mr. Guehenno dealt with that question, so I shall pass on it.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  6. “I think that I have partially answered that question by pointing to the options that might be available and to the idea - which was floated around this table - that one should present the information to the transitional Government and help the transitional Government to act. I was asked how the Office of the High Commissioner wishes to pursue the findings of these two reports in order to bring to justice those concerned. I should like to ask your permission, Mr. President, for the Office of the High Commissioner to submit a paper to the Council - informally, if necessary - on follow- up to this important debate and to some of the issues in the report. The quality of this debate indicates that it should have a high-quality and considered response on our part.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  7. “Secondly, I would indicate that the idea of a conference on Africa's Great Lakes region at some point in time is in view. I was Director of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, and thus I can well envisage that, when it is eventually held, such a conference might give an important place to human rights issues. For the purposes at hand, I would say that what is crucial in a situation like this is to gather and document information on violations. I cannot place too much emphasis on the issue of documenting the violations. What are the possibilities of bringing to justice those who are responsible?”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  8. “It is a way of documenting what is going on in a country. I think Mr. Guehenno dealt with the issue of military observers. The question was raised whether human rights observers should have immunity. I would answer the question this way: of course, if you do not have security, immunity is theoretical. But, as a matter of principle, human rights investigators should be protected with respect to what they do in pursuit of their activities. I was asked how one can engage the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring Governments. I would give two answers. First, as members are aware, many actors are engaged in peacemaking, and I shall not enter that terrain; I will just point to the fact that there are many peacemakers.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  9. “On this occasion, I could envisage a joint mission, at the appropriate time, of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Special Rapporteur on torture, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, representatives of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Conceptually, the role of such a joint mission is that it brings added authority and insights, and it aims to achieve two purposes: first, to demonstrate to the international community that there is such concern about a particular situation that one is asking the leading investigators to go there; and secondly, so that experts from different perspectives can produce reports on and document what is going on in a country.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  10. “Here, I must return to my own visits to sites: you know that, if you are going there without any kind of serious escort or protection, it is a non-starter. I was asked about joint missions of special rapporteurs. Let me say first of all that the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has visited and is planning another visit soon; she will report to the General Assembly. But that was not the question; the question was joint visits. I should like to give a generic answer, which is that sometimes, in situations of this nature, it has been found useful to put together a set of the thematic rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  11. “And, as we publish the facts, we must give each people a chance to pursue its own route to reconciliation and justice, with one proviso: it must be clear that there can be no impunity for international crimes. I formulated that carefully, because I think that publishing the facts is important for the record, and then each people would be given the chance to choose its own path to justice and reconciliation, on the clear understanding that there can be no impunity for international crimes. In relation to paragraph 29 of the report, I was asked what the possibility would be of sending an international team and when the right time would be. Well, I think the right time would be when security conditions would permit it; this is linked to the fact that, if you cannot go to a site, you cannot really investigate it.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  12. “As members are aware, we have the examples of the two Tribunals, for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; we have the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which is a national enterprise supported internationally; we have the court for Cambodia; we have a national court in Ethiopia, which continues to deal with past crimes; and, of course, we have the International Criminal Court. This morning, we heard around this table that one should support the transitional Government, present evidence to it and encourage it to tackle these issues. The question was asked how one ensures that justice is not secondary to reconciliation. That, of course, is not an easy question to answer. I would say that, first of all, we must publish the facts in any instance so that we know what they are.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  13. “Guehenno said, this is something that one does case by case, and I would echo his appeal for financial support for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Observatory. The question was asked how we can support preventive efforts in places like these. My answer would be that we must support the conflict prevention Mechanism of the African Union and must call upon it to play an increasingly greater role in the prevention of gross violations of human rights. Perhaps we must establish a dialogue with the African Union on the Mechanism. It was also asked how one can address the issue of justice in this situation. I should like to give an answer that refers to the models we have used so far.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  14. “On the point concerning the protection of investigations, allow me to say that, while there can be no hard and fast rule, sometimes the pursuit of an investigation makes it indispensable to protect sites. When I was in the peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia, and we had first discovered the mass grave sites at Ovcara, near Vukovar, we had to ask the peacekeepers to protect the sites for us for several months, and they did so. When, upon the Security Council's request, I went to C6te d'Ivoire in December last year, I myself visited one such mass grave sites. Doing so becomes rather tricky if you have no escort; the person on that occasion prevented us even from taking photographs of the site. It got as tricky as that. But, as Mr.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source

  15. “Mr. Ramcharan: On behalf of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, I should like to express my gratitude for the kind remarks and the support expressed by many speakers for some of the thoughts we have placed before members. This has been an important debate, and for that we very much thank the Council. Let me take this opportunity to say that the cooperation among the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, my Office and the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) is good. Mr. Guehenno, in particular, is very supportive of the spirit of human rights and peacekeeping going together.”

    2003-07-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4784 (2003) · source